In October, some of the Q community members gathered together for a packed day of learning and networking. The 180-strong audience heard from leading improvement experts including Don Berwick, the founding CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
‘Q is a treasure in the making, badly needed – badly needed now’, said Don, adding that ‘You couldn’t have made a wiser choice than to be part of this system of personal development, in my view’.
He also shared his views on quality improvement: ‘I can show you empirically that inspection decreases change. Everyone runs for the fox-hole and dives deep to stay out of the line of fire. So the last thing that happens in an inspection regime is that people get ambitious about designing the new thing’.
Q is a treasure in the making, badly needed – badly needed now
– Don Berwick
‘So what do we do? Q! The whole idea behind your investment is that there is a way… the correct application of methods of improvement, systems learning and change, a learning organisation, over time, in a buoyant, co-operative environment. [This can] yield the new design that is able to do better for the people we help’.
The audience also heard from experts including knowledge management guru Chris Collison, who shared insights from the amazing feat of knowledge transfer and learning that happens every time the Olympics moves from one host city to another.
The event created a great buzz on Twitter too. Coming back to Q’s Twitter account on my work PC – rather than my mobile – the next day I found that there were over 1,000 new notifications! Member Ashley Gould tweeted: ‘Superb day of q-llective learning, topped off with inspirational @donberwick. Thank you!’.
There were a range of interactive sessions – from speed consulting to TRIZ and Two Brains – and Q created a set of 10 methods cards offering some creative approaches to problem solving.
Members fed back on the many ways they had found the day valuable. ‘It gave me space to reflect on how I can take forward a community of practice through Q work and regionally for improvement. Some great contacts from some very clever people’, one commented.
Another said: ‘Learnt some great new techniques for addressing problems. Every time I come I learn a new way of looking at problems/working with people.’